Back on the 7th of this month (October 2015) my eldest child turned 40. Had a bit of a rough day as I thought about what he was like as a child and what he had become as an adult. And I have to say I much preferred the child to the adult.

Yesterday we had our final handover of goods lovingly made by the members of the Gonville Knitting Group to Barbara from Birthright. We handed another 108 items over bringing our grand total to 1114 garments, blankets and toys to our chosen charity for 2015!

Been a bit busy with the hooks and needles over the past couple of weeks and been rather lax on posting in my blog… sorry to my followers for the tardiness but here are the reasons why….

Made myself something for a change – a pair of socks and a top – both knitted.

My top – Panda Acrylic 8 ply

My socks – Happy Feet 3 ply

I also made a couple of gorgeous little cardi’s for my best friend’s brand new twin great nieces – but found out just last night that they are too small- the little girls are growing just so quickly! So they have been saved to go on their first dolls…. how cute.

And the job that took the longest…… Christmas gifts for my old school friend’s grandkids. Carol contacted me from Oz a couple of months back and asked if I could make a couple of hats for her grandies … Of course I can, says I…. within a very short space of time, the couple of hats grew to be 3 baby jackets (like the ones above) with matching boottess; 4 ninja turtle hats, a minion hat and matching scarf, a boy’s ear flap hat and matching scarf, an owl hat, a ladies slouchie hat in purple, a ladies slouch hat and matching scarf in pinks, and a ladies slouch hat and matching scarf in black and blue which I changed to shades of blue, teal and cream because the black and blue looked awful. When I showed the photo of the finished haul to my friend, her daughter has now ordered another owl hat for herself! I also made a Tunisian crochet neck warmer for my friend as a little present to her. She asked me how she was going to pay me to do the job… You aren’t, I told her… You are going down to Lincraft at Elizabeth (South Australia) and are going to buy me $180 worth or yarn and post it over to me…. About a week later 2 large boxes arrived here in Whanganui (NZ) with … get this…. 7.5 kgs of different coloured/styles/textures yarns inside…. it was like opening presents on Christmas morning… she had chosen just about every colour of the rainbow for me. And this is what I made for her….

Carol’s Haul

And as well as the above, I have finished just this morning a gorgeous little Tunisian crochet baby jacket in blue with bright yellow apple buttons on it, and am currently working on a tea cosy for my cousin’s wife.

Had Kasey in hospital last Thursday and Friday with suspected appendicitis. They couldn’t find anything after heaps of blood tests and an ultra sound. Put it down to a grumbling appendix and said if it flares up again in the next 3 months they will rip it out. He is fine now and back at school.

Kasey saw his paediatrician, Dr Bates, today for the first time in 12 months. Glad to report that he has finally put on some decent weight and has grown 6 cms in the past year. Considering that he is 11 and about the size of an 8 year old, this is really good. The other good thing to come out of today is that Dr Bates has decided that at the end of this school year, Kasey will be taken off the 3 times a day doses of Methylphenidate (Rubefin) and go onto the once a day slow release Conerta instead. This will hopefully make it less easy for him to forget to take his meds.

Went out to Caroline’s Boat Shed & Bar last night for the lovely Kelly Scarrow’s 40t birthday. Hade a great time. Saw some folks I haven’t seen for a while. Enjoyed some great food and a very nice half bottle of Lindauer pinot gris as well. Was good to catch up with my favourite tattooist, the very talented Nigel Hamahona, and to meet his daughter and sister as well.

Here’s a couple of pics I nicked off Kelly’s facebook this afternoon – forgot to take my own camera…

Kelly (the one with the tattooed sleeve) getting her beautiful key from her girl friends that was carved by Nige.

Me nearest the red wall and Pauline Allomes next to me, that’s Sally from the library across from me and Nigel’s sister Roseene next to her.

Another 306 plus items were handed over to Barbara from Birthright Wanganui this morning at Gonville. Sorry no pictures yet – but will have some later today or perhaps tomorrow to post. Add these to the 286 from the last handover and the 311 from the one prior to that.

In addition to this we handed over 94 knitted & crocheted daffodils and a special daffodil blanket to the Manager of the Wanganui Cancer Society.